Fair competition vigilance

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level of competition is relatively tangible, while other parameters surveyed are not that easy to understand. Competition can be felt in the market in various ways that are observed to increase consumer welfare, such as greater choice and lower prices.

Yet, only 26% of respondents are aware that unfair trade practices have been omitted from the purview of the Competition Act (academia: 19%; business: 32%; CSO: 18%; government officials: 27%; media: 34%; others: 35%). Only 6% respondents are aware that mergers above a certain threshold would come within the purview of the Competition Act, and that pre-merger notification was voluntary (academia: 11%; business: 4%; CSO: 17%; government officials: 1%; media: 2%; others: 7%). This has now been made mandatory under the 2007 Act.

The reason for low awareness scores on parameters like nature of market practices (35.84) and awareness of competition and regulatory issues (39.39) may well be that since key provisions of the competition law have not yet been brought into force in India, there have been no cases taken up for public discussion. This is serious, because ignorance about the nature of prevailing anti-competitive practices may lead to the exploitation of stakeholders. Advocacy and effective regulation can play an important role to ensure that this does not happen, and there is certainly room for improvement. To take full advantage of the Act, consumers and businesses have to be familiar with various competition and regulatory issues, and this is a task for various government and non-government agencies.

The survey also indicates that, so far, competition and regulatory authorities have not been effective in controlling anti-competitive practices. In many cases, these agencies have not even been effective in enforcing their own orders at local levels. A solution is to give the agencies the requisite autonomy and qualified staff.